


13 ways of looking at a flamingo

by Lirazel



Category: Nothing Much to Do
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-18
Updated: 2014-12-18
Packaged: 2018-03-02 03:13:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2797481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lirazel/pseuds/Lirazel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even if they can't see it themselves, everyone else can.</p>
            </blockquote>





	13 ways of looking at a flamingo

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ladywaffles (JaneEyre)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaneEyre/gifts).



> I know it's not exactly what you asked for but I really, really hope you enjoy this fic. 
> 
> Please forgive me for the title--I am weak and I could not resist.

1.

It takes Hero a while to realize it’s a broken heart she’s seeing, or as close to one as a fourteen-year-old can feel. At the time, she watches with concerned eyes as Beatrice’s barbs aimed at Ben start being less affectionate and begin to carry some poison. Bea’s eyes are steely and her mouth twists whenever she lobs an insult at Ben now, and Ben looks confused, like he can’t figure out if she’s really being as mean as he thinks she is or if nothing’s changed at all.

But it has. _Beatrice_ has changed, ever since that afternoon when she got home from spending the day at the park with Ben. She’d bounded out the door that morning in her favorite Eowyn t-shirt ( _I am no man_ it exclaimed in big letters, and Bea wore it so often that it started fade), shouting over her shoulder that she was meeting Ben at the park and would be back in time for dinner. Hero had almost asked if she could go, too; she felt like she hadn’t seen very much of Bea this visit, that her cousin was spending all her time with Ben, and, okay, Hero was feeling a little neglected. But she would rather be alone than have someone hang out with her when they’d rather be with someone else, so she bit her tongue and asked Mum if she could invite Meg over.

Meg left mid-afternoon for swim team practice, and Hero entertained herself for a while watching videos of cute kittens on youtube, but the videos were a little less adorable than usual, and when the door flew open and she heard the sound of Beatrice’s Chucks in the hallway, she bounced out of her seat, ready to ask Bea if she wanted to make cookies. But Beatrice walked right past her like she hadn’t seen her at all, face expressionless, and even when Hero knocked on the guest room door and told her that dinner was ready, she didn’t come out. After dinner, Hero left a glass of lemonade outside the door and went back to her own room.

The next day was Thursday, and Beatrice had said something about going to the zoo with Ben that day, but when Hero asked her about it at breakfast, Beatrice shrugged. 

"You don't want to go anymore?" Hero asked, brow wrinkling.

“I’d rather go with you, actually.”

Hero was excited at the idea of spending the whole day with her cousin, but she had to admit she was confused. “I thought you two were planning on naming the flamingos.”

“Flamingos are obnoxious. Let’s go see the tigers instead.”

They had an okay time at the zoo, though Bea’s cheeriness seemed a little forced, and it was no surprise to Hero at all when they ran into Ben in front of the elephant house. His eyebrows flew up, and he looked like he couldn’t decide between being confused or being happy to see Bea. “Fair Beatrice! We were supposed to meet at the ticket counter! Did you forget?”

Bea took a lick of her banana ice cream (gross, in Hero’s opinion, and the sight of it almost ruined her own coconut scoop) and gave Ben a cool look. “I didn’t forget.” And then she grabbed Hero by the wrist, turned on her heel, and dragged Hero away towards the baboons. Hero nearly dropped her ice cream and then almost tripped as she tried to wave goodbye to Ben while being dragged away. They left Ben standing there looking crushed. 

The next week or two was strained, with Beatrice acting overly cheerful half the time and refusing to come out of her room the other half. Whenever they hung out with Pedro and Ben was there, she started out ignoring a still-confused Ben, but soon enough she let herself get pulled into a battle of wits, like the appeal of arguing with Ben is this irresistible force she couldn’t resist no matter how hard she tried. But she scoffed now, instead of teasing, and there was an edge to her words, and Ben’s expression bounced back and forth between the enjoyment he always wears when they’re bickering to something that hovers close to hurt. The day before Beatrice went back to Wellington, as they walked back to their house after saying goodbye to Pedro, Hero asked if they should swing by Ben’s. Beatrice’s reaction was enough to convince Hero not to bring up the subject of Benedick Hobbes for a long time.

It isn’t until the next summer when Bea visits again and pronounces Benedick Hobbes the biggest dick on the planet (and gets angry when Meg makes a joke about how she's an authority on these things and she's pretty sure Ben's not that big) that it finally occurs to Hero that the summer before she’d watched Beatrice have her first breakup without really knowing it.

 

2\. 

So here’s the truth: yes, Pedro has had a crush on Beatrice since they were kids. And yeah, sometimes he’s entertained a few fantasies about her actually liking him back and getting to date her. But he’s not dense (at least, not that dense): he knows she doesn’t see anyone else but Ben. He’s known it from the beginning.

He knew from the day he introduced his new friend Ben, all limbs and mouth and mussed-up hair, to Bea, four inches taller than she was last summer and in her football cleats. Ben had on a _Star Trek_ t-shirt and Bea took one look on it and demanded to know which series was his favorite, and the two of them proceeded to have a boisterous debate about whether the original series or _Deep Space 9_ was superior. Pedro might as well not have even been there as Beatrice ranted about how important the original series' multicultural cast was during the Cold War and Ben countered with praise of the emotional complexity of _DS9_. Beatrice’s eyes were bright and she looked prettier than ever with her cheeks flushed, and that was the moment Pedro knew he’d never have a chance--especially when he saw the way Ben threw his arms around while talking and realized that Ben was just as taken with Bea as she was with him. He couldn’t compete with Ben’s bantering abilities or his knowledge of all the (nerdy) things Bea was also into: Bea was far less impressed by Pedro’s football skills than she was by the fact that Ben seemed to have memorized the entirety of _The Silmarillion_. Bea and Ben fought over whether Snape was a hero or not, whether _Doctor Who_ should end after the Thirteenth Doctor dies, whether tea is necessary for human civilization, whether blue or green is the superior color. When the conversation turned to which run of _X-Men_ is the best, Pedro tried to contribute his opinion, but it was hard to get actually get a full sentence out when Ben and Bea were tossing words back and forth like professional tennis players in a volley. And that was just the first day--Pedro felt like a third wheel for the rest of Bea’s visit. 

When things turned...cold between the two of them, though, it left Pedro feeling unsettled. Maybe he should have felt hope at the development, like now he had a chance with Bea, but the truth was, even as he watched them turn cruel to each other, he couldn't ignore the way they still looked at each other--especially when they were pretending they weren't looking. 

But as persistent as his feelings for Beatrice are, she actually takes up a relatively small part of his life, only summer and holiday visits, and so Pedro sets his feelings aside and doesn't pay much attention to them. That is, until Hero announces that her cousin will be moving to Auckland, and then he can't help the leap of hope he feels inside. It's been years since he saw Bea and Ben fall in love (as much as two fourteen-year-olds can fall in love) and then apart, and surely Bea must be over Ben by now. And Pedro knows Bea likes him, enjoys his company, thinks he's a great guy. Now that she'll be living here, maybe he'll actually have a chance to win her over. 

(That hope last approximately a week until after a soccer game with Ursula filming it all: Ben wanders over and suddenly there's no one else in the world as far as Bea is concerned. Pedro still _has_ to say something a few days later when the opportunity arises--though, "Maybe I could be your knight in shining armor"? Really? What the hell was he thinking?--but he's not surprised when she shoots him down. It's exactly what he was expecting, though he would have preferred if she hadn't done it by laughing. On camera.) 

 

3.

It's the look on Ben's face when Hero makes the announcement that tells Claudio that something's up, even if he can't figure out what exactly it is. 

It's another evening spent at the Dukes' for one of Leo's pizza parties--he has them often, to talk strategy and facilitate team bonding, and Claudio can’t complain about the amount of time he gets to spend at the Dukes', not when it means he gets to see so much of Hero. On this night, he perks up over his Hawaiian pizza when she rushes into the room, her eyes shining. Something tightens in his gut at the sight of her face as he waits for her to sneak a look at him.

But for the first time since he ran into her desk and knocked over all her stuff, she doesn’t even seem to notice him.

“Leo, guess what?” Her eyes and voice are brimming with excitement. “Bea is coming to live with us!”

Claudio wouldn’t have noticed Ben’s reaction--would have still been staring at Hero and wishing he could put that look on her face--except that Ben knocks over his glass, drawing everyone’s attention. Ben doesn’t even seem to notice the growing puddle of ice tea on the table in front of him, and Claudio’s never seen a look like that on his friend's face before. Ben isn’t exactly known for his seriousness, but there’s something intense in his eyes that Claudio can’t decipher. Hero grabs a rag and starts mopping up the mess without even being asked, chattering all the while about arrangements for her cousin who, apparently, will be attending Messina High with the rest of them. Claudio is still curious about Ben’s reaction, but he’s far more interested in watching the way the light makes Hero’s hair shine like a halo, and it isn’t until Ben’s giving him a ride to school the next day that he remembers to ask.

They’re driving up the big hill, sunshine in their eyes, when Claudio asks, “So who’s this Beatrice girl who’s moving here?”

This is, actually, the moment when Ben kills his fifth bird, though Claudio notices Ben leaves that out of his vlog when he films it. The question that caused Ben to completely take his eyes off the road and thus miss the bird flying _right at the windscreen_ is forgotten in the chaos, and Ben eulogizes the bird until the first bell rings. It isn't until they're on their way to lunch that Claudio gets a chance to ask again. 

Thirty-seven minutes later, after the world’s longest rant about how Beatrice Duke is actually a witch, Claudio isn't any clearer about what it is Ben feels about this girl, and he really wishes he hadn’t asked.

 

4.

If there’s anything Meg knows, it’s sexual tension. She’s a connoisseur of it, actually, both her own (her and Robbie’s chemistry is off the charts) and other people's (poor Balthazar. He really should stop looking at Pedro that way if he doesn’t want the whole world to know). She was the one in primary school who knew when a boy pulling a girl’s pigtails was flirting and when it was just being annoying, and there hasn’t been a single couple in her year who got together without her seeing it coming. 

So she’s known about Bea and Ben for, like, _ever_. It’s been obvious to her all along that their arguments are flirting in disguise, and since Bea moved to Auckland their insults have taken on an edge that screams foreplay. It isn’t Meg’s preferred mating dance, but she supposes she can see the appeal: when Bea and Ben fight, they focus all their attention on each other, throw all the passion they have into proving each other wrong, and everything else in the world disappears. It’s entertaining enough, mostly because watching them both deny it is hilarious, but honestly, it’s getting a little old, and Meg can’t understand why they drag it out forever instead of doing anything about it. They should just bang already and get it out of their systems: with as heated as their arguments get, they’d probably have really great sex--Meg knows these things.

 

5.

Cora may or may not be the one to suggest to the history teacher that putting Benedick Hobbes and Beatrice Duke in the same project group might help them learn to get along and so stop disturbing the rest of the class with their arguments.

It’s sneaky and manipulative, but Benedick and Beatrice pretending not to be in love is just about the only entertaining thing that ever happens at Messina High.

 

6\. 

Ursula observes: it’s what she does. Since she was an eight-year-old lugging her mom’s camcorder around the backyard to film the adventures of her stuffed animal collection, she’s always felt more comfortable putting a lens between herself and the action she wants to capture, and if you do that for long enough, pretty soon you start treating the whole world like it's a play unfolding in front of your eyes.

So along with adjectives like “smart” and “soft-spoken,” people describe her as observant. But they don't know how true that is, because she doesn’t reveal most of what she observes. She might like to watch and record anything she can, but she has an intense respect for privacy, her own and others’, and the last thing she wants to be is a gossip. So she observes, and mentally files away information, and never tells anyone a quarter of what she knows because it’s none of her business.

She’s got three external hard drives full of the footage she’s recorded since high school began, and even though she knows she’ll never use most of it for anything, she can’t stand to delete it. So she makes montages and experimental videos that she’ll never show anyone, and it’s good editing practice, and it helps her develop her eye for lighting and composition and camera angles. Some of the projects are more or less never-ending--as she gets more footage of the football team, for instance, she adds it to the the older footage, hoping to craft something like a narrative of the clips: it’s a challenge. 

But her longest-running project is in a folder on her desktop titled “b/b looks." It's a mishmash of footage gathered over the years from Beatrice's visits to Auckland, but since Bea moved in with her cousins, Ursula finds herself adding more clips almost daily. She’s sometimes tempted to show it to Hero or Meg because, honestly, she gets a kick out of it and she knows any of her friends would, too. But she feels guilty enough just making the thing: an endless montage of moments she was never supposed to see in the first place. 

She feels a little bit wrong as she edits another clip because, honestly, there’s something so intimate about these moments. The fact that they’re always taking place in the background is all the evidence she needs that neither Beatrice nor Ben are even aware it’s happening, and it makes the whole thing seem like voyeurism. They’d be horrified if they saw this footage, angry at each other and themselves and probably at Ursula, and she really should delete the whole project. But there’s something raw about the footage, something _true_ , and true is what Ursula’s always looking for when she picks up her camera. True is the point.

And true is the look in Ben's eyes when he sneaks glances at Beatrice; true is what Ursula sees when Bea looks at Ben when she thinks no one is paying attention. But Ursula’s camera is watching, and the camera picks up the looks: sometimes wistful, sometimes sad, sometimes burning with something that should be hatred but isn’t. Whenever she views new footage, she imagines what their reactions would be if they saw themselves through the lens of her camera: denial, probably, heated; attempts to rewrite it so that melancholy is disgust; a giant blowup between Bea and Ben with everyone else caught up in the crossfire. The one thing she knows is that they would not take it well. 

Ursula’s a smart girl; she knows what it all means. She doesn’t just observe; she interprets, too. But she keeps this interpretation to herself.

It’s none of her business, anyway.

 

7.

Robbie really wishes Ben and Hero’s cousin would stop flirting so loud. He’s trying to take a nap.

 

8.

_A non-exhaustive list of things that John Donaldson could tell people if they actually bothered to talk to him:_

i. Pedro is bi  
ii. Balthazar has had a crush on Pedro since Year 9  
iii. Robbie’s been cheating on Meg the whole time they’ve been dating  
iv. Pedro is not the all-around great guy everyone thinks he is  
v. Claudio’s jealous streak is going to screw him over eventually  
vi. Ben and Beatrice Duke are practically married  
vii. Hero Duke is a lot stronger than most people think

If you asked him to elaborate on vi, he would roll his eyes and walk away--some things are too obvious to bother with.

 

9.

So it’s a cliche, making mixes, but Balthazar isn't exaggerating when he says that music is his life, and there's something relaxing about making mixes for his friends. He’s got playlists on his itunes for Claud (Jason Derulo’s “Undefeated,” with tongue firmly in cheek), Ursula (“Pictures of You” by the Last Goodnight), Meg (“Primadonna” by Marina and the Diamonds), and yes, Pedro (okay, there’s more than one for Pedro. There’s a lot for Pedro. More than Balthazar would ever admit to, enough that he never lets anyone else see his itunes because that would be embarrassing).

One day during study hall after watching Ben and Bea snipe at each other all through lunch, he decides that Team Love Gods deserves its own playlist, and by the time the final bell rings, he's got eleven songs under the title “A River in Egypt: Songs for Ben and Bea.”

 _I Won’t Say I’m in Love_ \- _Disney’s Hercules_  
 _A Kiss with a Fist_ \- Florence + the Machine  
 _I Hate Myself for Loving You_ \- Joan Jett and the Blackhearts  
 _True Love_ \- P!nk  
 _Don’t Let It Go to Your Head_ \- Fefe Dobson  
 _Disgusting_ \- Ke$ha  
 _What’s Love Got to Do with It_ \- Tina Turner  
 _Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off_ \- Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong  
 _Dickhead_ \- Kate Nash  
 _Anything You Can Do_ \- _Annie Get Your Gun_  
 _I Can’t Decide_ \- Scissor Sisters  


It's definitely the most ridiculous mix he's ever made, but It makes him laugh every time he opens his itunes.

 

10.

From the notes of Georgia Verges, Detective, Private Eye, and Investigator:

_dated 08/--/2014, observed from the window of aforementioned detective [note: with the assistance of binocular telescopes]_

_Observation:_

_7:32 PM: ambulance arrives at the Dukes’ residence, accompanied by sirens and flashing lights; EMTs disembark [note: presumably they’re EMTs. Could be secret operatives in disguise]._

_7:41 PM: Hero Duke is ensconced in ambulance accompanied by Beatrice and Leo Duke, cousin and brother of the stricken, respectively. Ambulance vehiculates away. Detective is unable to determine the nature of Hero Duke’s wound, injury, disease, or illness._

_1:24 AM: the vehicle of 1 (one) Benedick Hobbes vehiculates into the Duke driveway._

_1:25 AM: Beatrice Duke emerges from the vehicle. The slam that ensues is inordinately cacophonous._

_1:25:30 AM: Benedick Hobbes emanates from the driver’s seat. Hastens around the side of the car. Captures Beatrice Duke’s (left) hand._

_1:26 AM: an embrace ensues_

_1:29 AM: a very long embrace. Unable to ascertain whether Beatrice Duke is crying._

_1:32 AM: the detective has never observed an embrace so enduring_

_1:33 AM: Beatrice Duke extricates herself from the embrace. Beatrice Duke infiltrates the Duke residence._

_1:34 AM: Benedick Hobbes ensconces himself back in his vehicle but does not insert the key in the ignition._

_1:35 AM: Light illuminates the room belonging to 1 (one) Hero Duke_

_1:47 AM: Light in the room belonging to 1 (one) Hero Duke is extinguished_

_1:55 AM: The vehicle emerges from the driveway and transports its occupant out of sight_

 

11.

Beatrice keeps giving him looks that say that she’ll rip him apart with her bare hands whenever she sees him lately, and Leo can’t say he blames her. He’s feeling pretty shitty about his reaction to the whole Hero thing, especially when he sees his little sister drifting pale-faced as a ghost through the house. He let her down and believed something no brother should, and he can’t really blame Bea for hating him so much. But that doesn’t mean he wants to be confronted with Bea's anger, so when he turns the corner and sees that she's in the kitchen, he jerks back before she can see him. He didn’t really need a snack right now anyway.

He’s about to turn away and head up to his room when he hears Ben’s voice. It’s three in the morning--should Ben really be over here now? _Why_ is he over here now? If Leo were a responsible guardian, he’d probably go in and tell Ben he has to leave, but he knows he relinquished any right to pull the I’m-in-charge card when he betrayed his sister. Still, he’s curious as to why Ben and his cousin are in the kitchen in the middle of the night, so he peers around the corner again in time to see Ben take a step closer to Bea.

“Bea?”

Beatrice hurriedly wipes her cheeks with the back of her hand. “Oh, hey. I thought you were asleep.”

“Have you been crying again?” Leo isn’t used to seeing Ben look so solemn. Whenever the team is together, he’s all jokes.

He expects to hear Beatrice deny that she was crying at all; she hates to show weakness. But she lets out a watery little laugh and says, “Yeah. And I think I’ll probably cry a while longer, too.”

Ben takes another step closer till they’re standing just inches apart. They don’t look at each other, both of their eyes on the floor, but Ben’s head is bent towards Bea’s. “I hate that you’re crying.”

“It's not your fault,” Bea says. “I’m doing it of my own free will.”

Leo watches Ben’s fingers creep along the counter, closer to Beatrice’s hand that’s resting on the marble. “They’re all wrong about Hero, I know it.”

Bea lets out a long sigh. “I’d do anything for the person who paid them all back for what they’ve done to her. Anything.”

“Can I…” Ben’s fingers skitter closer. “Can I do something?”

Bea shrugs and sighs. Ben’s fingers brush against Bea’s, and Leo is pretty sure he sees her cheeks darken in the dim light. “Want to hear something crazy?” Ben asks.

“How would it be any different than anything else that ever comes out of your mouth?”

“Cute. No, but listen.” He takes a deep breath and when he speaks again his voice is breathy, brittle. “I don’t love anything else in the world more than I love you.” His fingers finally slide under Bea’s and he laces them together. “Isn’t that weird?”

Bea lets out a little sound Leo couldn’t label. Her eyes and Ben’s are both on their tangled hands. “Want to hear something just as weird? I could say the same thing right back to you.”

And then Bea looks up and the look in her eyes is so vulnerable that Leo jerks back around the corner, but not before he sees Ben looking down at her with the same look in his eyes.

He doesn’t know what they’re doing in there now, but he could guess, and he should really go in and send Ben home. But he hasn’t seen anything but anger and heartbreak on his cousin’s face in days, and he couldn’t bear to bring those expressions back now. 

Leo goes back upstairs, leaving Bea and Ben to their solitude.

 

12.

Conversation between Hugh Dogberry and Georgia Verges, in text form, dated 10/--/2014, 2:43 PM

HD: _confidentially, in truth, 2 b absolutely frank, i think maybe beatrice & benedick r dating_

GV: _what could possibly lead u 2 arrive @ this postulation?_

HD: _i observed them osculating most passionately behind the gym 2day_

GV: _what does osculating mean?_

HD: _kissing, verges. smooching, snogging, mushing, making out as the yanks call it._

GV: _oh._

GV: _but y do u think they r dating?_

 

13\. 

Benedict Cumberbatch is walking through Heathrow with sunglasses on and a hat pulled low over his eyes. It’s not a particularly good disguise, and already more than one sharp-eyed fan has spotted him and either discreetly snapped a picture or rushed right up and asked him for an autograph. The attention is nothing new, but it has slowed him down, and his manager keeps glancing at his watch, passive-aggressively reminding him that he’s got to hurry if he’s going to make his plane.

So it's not really surprising when he speeds around a corner and bumps into a young couple kissing by a kiosk. They’re clearly kids backpacking on their gap year, judging by the large packs on their backs, and as Benedict runs into them, they’re jostled apart. The girl almost falls over before the boy, wearing a _Doctor Strange_ t-shirt, grabs her and pulls her upright. Benedict apologizes in a voice he hopes is unrecognizable and hurries off before they can get a good look at him. 

“Hey. Bea,” he hears the boy say. “I think that was Benedict Cumberbatch.”

The girl’s accent is Kiwi and her voice fondly exasperated. “Oh my God, Ben, do you really think I’ll fall for that one again?”

“No, Bea, I’m being serious this time! It really was him, I’m pretty sure.”

As their voices face into the clamor of the busy airport, Benedict hears them settle into a round of comfortable bickering. They’ll be okay.


End file.
